The 25 countries around the world where same-sex marriage is legal

People demonstrate for the legalization of gay marriage and parenting on December 16, 2012 in Paris, France.Antoine Antoniol/Getty Images

2017 has been a big year for LGBTQI rights.

Both Malta and Germany legalized same-sex marriage and, this week, Australia made big strides towards doing so as well.

In a nation-wide postal poll, 61.6% of Australian voters said they were in favor of same-sex marriage, ensuring the federal government will try to pass a marriage equality bill before the end of the year.

Yet while demand continues to grow for LGBTQI rights, there are currently only 25 countries that allow same-sex couples to marry.

4. Also in 2005, a closely divided Spanish parliament agreed to do the same.

A reveler dressed with a gay pride flag walks the streets next to Cibeles Square before the Pride Parade during the Madrid Gay Pride Festival on June 29, 2016 in Madrid, Spain. Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images

The law guaranteed identical rights to all married couples regardless of sexual orientation.

9. Portugal has also allowed same-sex marriage since 2010, after legislation was originally challenged by the country's president.

Portugal had passed a measure legalizing same-sex marriage in February of 2010, but Portugal’s former president, Anibal Cavaco Silva, asked the Constitutional Court to review the measure. In April 2010, the Constitutional Court declared the law to be constitutionally valid.

14. President Francois Hollande signed a measure legalizing marriage equality in France in 2013.

People demonstrate for the legalization of gay marriage and parenting on December 16, 2012 in Paris, France. Antoine Antoniol/Getty Images

Hollande’s signature had to wait until a court challenge brought by the conservative opposition party, the UMP, was resolved. France’s highest court, the Constitutional Council, ruled that the bill was constitutional.

16. England and Wales became the first countries in the UK to pass marriage equality in 2014.

Gay couple Peter McGraith and David Cabreza married shortly after midnight at Islington Town Hall in one of the UK's first same-sex weddings on March 29, 2014 in London, England.Rob Stothard/Getty Images

Northern Ireland and Scotland are semi-autonomous and have separate legislative bodies to decide many domestic issues. In 2017, a judge dismissed two cases on same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland.

18. Luxembourg overwhelmingly approved legislation to allow gay and lesbian couples to wed and to adopt children that went into effect in 2015.

Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel (L) and his husband and First Gentleman Gauthier Destenay (R) celebrate with the American ambassador and his wife, July 3 2014.US Embassy Luxembourg/Creative Commons

The bill was spearheaded by the country’s Prime Minister, Xavier Bettel. Bettel married his long-time partner Gauthier Destenay a few months after the legislation passed.

24. In 2017, Germany became the 15th European country to allow same-sex couples to wed.

German Greens Party parliamentarian Volker Beck joins supporters of gay rights gathered outside the Chancellery to cut a cake in celebration following a vote at the nearby Bundestag which approved gay marriage in Germany on June 30, 2017 in Berlin, Germany.Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Germany gave full marital rights to homosexual couples in a vote that Chancellor Angela Merkel vited against.